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| Volunteer Marsha Brown |
By L'Oreal Adams
Bengal News Reporter
After a six-year wait, an Ethiopian refugee
family finally moved into their dream home on the West Side.
With the help of volunteers, Habitat
for Humanity has completed 277 homes within the city, the most recent at 457
Busti Ave. This is the first house that Habitat completed
this year and will be the first home that the refugee family has owned.
The new homeowners Kemal Asabel, Meaza
Tedela, and their three kids ages 6-12, rented a house in North Buffalo. They prefer the diversity and the
tight-knit community that the West Side has to offer.
“We were on
the waiting list six years because each time they give me East Side. We
patiently waited for the West Side,” Tedela said.
Earlier in
March, they became West Side winners.
“I only have
my one sister here and my family but my friends from the West Side are like my
family too. We do everything here and our home is much nicer,” Tedela said.
The mission of this non-profit
organization is to provide simple, decent and affordable housing to families in
need. With the help of donors, local businesses, corporations and Habitat for
Humanity affiliates, three families who’ve earned themselves a home will now be
neighbors.
Planning begins long before the plot
breaks ground. Armitage Architecture on Delaware Avenue is one of the firms that works closely with
Habitat to design a home. On Busti Avenue, the space needed a specific fit in
order for the city to approve the construction.
“We were looking for a design that
would fit within a standard city lot because there are a lot of individual lots
throughout the city. So we needed a plan that would fit within the urban
infield design,” said Penny Armitage, who is
the architect who planned the layout for two out of the three new homes on
Busti Avenue.
The
two new builds are still blooming. The plots are filled with dirt where two new homes will be built
in honor of Pope Francis. The funding
for the two Pope Francis builds came from an anonymous donor who gave $60,000.
It’s unclear exactly why but that’s what Habitat for Humanities does to people,
“it brings out the best in them without needing public recognition,” Barry Weiss construction manager, said.
The space for the third house is still
empty but not for long. Habitat’s goal is to complete 15 more houses by the end
of this year.
The house is given to a deserving,
qualifying family in exchange for 500 sweat equity hours.
“It’s a hand in and not a hand out,”
Weiss said.
In order to be put on the housing list,
the family must complete an application and attach it with a recent credit
report. Then they have to submit copies of two recent pay stubs, W-2s and their most recent federal tax returns.
The Habitat homes offer a 0 percent interest mortgage rate.
“They have to be making little enough that they wouldn’t be able to afford
homeownership through the traditional lending means,” said Weiss.
Families also have to show that they are invested in the partnership with the organization by completing 150 volunteer hours on any new build or rehabilitated house before they get on the list. It’s considered as a form of a down payment.
Families also have to show that they are invested in the partnership with the organization by completing 150 volunteer hours on any new build or rehabilitated house before they get on the list. It’s considered as a form of a down payment.
“Providing an opportunity to our families that
they wouldn’t have through other avenues is what I love the most about
Habitat,” Weiss said. Maris Lambie contributed to this report.
